Alexander Gustafsson insinuates Jon Jones beat him while on PEDs, Jones fires back

The triumvirate atop the UFC’s light heavyweight division — Daniel Cormier, Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson — could have been the modern day Tito Ortiz-Chuck Liddell-Randy Couture. It probably won’t end up that way, for several reasons, so all we have is their entertaining Twitter exchanges for now.

After Jones backed up a Cormier tweet about Gustafsson on Monday night, Gustafsson clapped back Tuesday, essentially insinuating that Jones was on performance-enhancing drugs when Jones beat Gustafsson in 2013.

Jones, of course, is never one to give a good Twitter beef the cold shoulder. He fired back with three more posts at Gustafsson.

“Please tell me you convinced yourself that I was on steroids during our fight,” Jones wrote, adding a crying laughing emoji.

Then, he went after Gustafsson and his country of origin, Sweden, while using a lewd reference.

“The only “good stuff” I used to send you packing was my big old American balls,” Jones wrote. “Try spending a little more time here, maybe you’ll learn a thing or two.”

It all started when Cormier sent Gustafsson a tweet over the weekend, responding to a subtle shot at Cormier, the UFC light heavyweight champion. Cormier basically told Gustafsson to stop talking and get back in the Octagon. Jones tweeted Monday that he agreed with his longtime rival Cormier.

A fight involving any of these two men does not seem to be on the horizon, unfortunately. Cormier will move up and challenge Stipe Miocic for the UFC heavyweight title at UFC 226 on July 7 in Las Vegas. Gustafsson just signed a new contract and will likely be in a light heavyweight title eliminator fight next.

Meanwhile, Jones is still waiting on a resolution to his doping case with USADA. He is facing a four-year suspension after testing positive for the steroid Turinabol stemming from an in-competition in relation to his fight with Cormier.

Jones won that fight by third-round TKO, though it was overturned to a no-contest by the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC). Jones beat Cormier previously in 2015. Cormier also owns a win over Gustafsson in 2015, which was the last time Gustafsson lost a bout.